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Some secrets should be heard but not seen.

A sensuously-written, literary novel about the emotional and erotic awakening of a young widow living in Brooklyn.

You see, I was no different than Hope, no less a danger to myself and others - I had given myself away, to harm, to unknown appetites - but here, in my own building, I meant to practice life differently, in my way, no one else's.

In the five years since her young husband's death, Celia Cassill has retreated from view. She has moved from one New York neighbourhood to another but she has not moved on. The owner of a small apartment building, she has chosen tenants who will not intrude upon her grief. Privacy is the byword; self-containment the aim.

Everything will change when a new tenant, Hope, moves in upstairs. Intoxicating and dangerous, Hope is on the run from a failed marriage and in thrall to a seductive, sinister man. As her noisy affair destroys the building's quiet, and another tenant disappears, Celia is forced into contact with life - complicated, messy, irrepressible life - through violence, sex, and the secrets that lurk within the brownstone's walls.

About the Author

Amy Grace Loyd is an executive editor at BYLINER INC. and was the fiction and literary editor of PLAYBOY magazine for over six years until 2011. She has also worked in THE NEW YORKER's fiction department and was associate editor on the NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS Classics series. She has been a MacDowell and Yaddo fellow. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Read Caroline Baum's Review

When her husband dies young, Celia, becomes the owner of a small apartment building and chooses her tenants carefully. Privacy and harmony are paramount. But then Hope moves in and everything changes. On the run from a failed marriage, she is in thrall to a sinister, violent man and her noisy affair disrupts the building’s peace. Then another elderly tenant disappears. Celia’s curiosity about the people sharing her home sucks her into re-engaging with life with consequences she could never imagine.

This psychological portrait of grief is a very confident debut, with a polished, controlled style, and a quietly building undertow of erotic tension that reminded me of Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

The first novel from the ex-literary editor of Playboy carries a considerable erotic charge, but there's much more to it besides: grief is Amy Grace Loyd's subject and her narrative is as psychologically acute as it is sensual. What's more she as good on the texture of spring in the city as she is on the faces and flesh. A classy debut by a sure-footed storyteller. -- Stephanie Cross DAILY MAIL As a story about bereavement it would seem to shout "moving on". But this brisk phrase from the world of cheap psychobabble does not convey the full force and clarity of an impressive debut novel. -- Jennifer Selway DAILY MAIL A riveting, raw debut... Loyd brilliantly keeps us holding our breath as Celia's barriers disintegrate, her rules fall away, and the shield she holds so tightly over her heart slowly lowers... Stunningly rendered, acutely emotional REDBOOK (USA) For first-time novelist Amy Grace Loyd, an apartment building is not simply housing. It is also a metaphor for the paradoxical isolation and proximity we feel among others... With forceful, sensual prose (the author is captivated by the scents of people and places), Loyd allows Celia to discover that 'life had as many gains as losses as long as we were willing to tally them -- Amy Fine Collins O THE OPRAH MAGAZINE (USA) In this 50-shades-of-something novel, an apartment building's tenants are thrown for a loop when a new resident moves in MARIE CLAIRE (USA) [Loyd's] writing is rich and elegant, with elements of allusion and allegory and beguiling characters to draw readers in. Dark and sensual, with just a touch of suspense, this first novel offers a heartwrenchingly honest story about grief while still allowing for a glimmer of hope BOOKLIST (USA) The Affairs of Others is an assured and moving debut novel. It has the kind of real tenderness and simplicity that takes great skill to achieve -- A. L. Kennedy A moody, sensual debut... both important and true THE NEW YORKER From start to finish, Loyd's prose flows exquisitely through the story, as she limns the depths of the protagonist's mind, the complexity of human intimacy, and the idiosyncrasies of each new character with the grace of a seasoned novelist. VANITY FAIR (USA) Mesmerizing ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Widowed Celia...is a Brooklyn-landlady version of Claire Messud's Woman Upstairs. But as her tenants' messy lives begin to intrude, the novel grows knottier-and naughtier. NEW YORK MAGAZINE An unsettling, darkly tinged debut. -- Michael Cader PUBLISHER'S LUNCH An intimate portrayal of the walls erected by a woman after her husband's death... Loyd's character study is narrow in scope but long on intensity and emotion. PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY (USA) The Affairs of Others is a wonderful novel, beautifully written and sensuous, rich with emotion and psychological truth. Amy Grace Loyd's prose hums with desire as she creates a Brooklyn walk-up that comes alive with the yearning of its tenants, and moves them toward an unforgettable ending-suspenseful, erotic and ultimately hopeful -- Jess Walter, author of BEAUTIFUL RUINS Rich and fresh. The writing is just so wonderfully good... Throughout there are sentences to linger over, or for me to grin at with envy... Loyd has written a Rear Window story of a confined society described with Hitchcockian, voyeuristic detail. -- Rob Hansen, author of THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD Debut novels don't come any more sure-handed and deftly written than The Affairs of Others. But it's damaged, broken-hearted Celia, Amy Grace Loyd's brave, all-in protagonist, who latches on to us and refuses to loosen her grip. -- Richard Russo, author of EMPIRE FALLS Hypnotic, beautiful, and dangerously erotic, this book trembles with feeling, every sentence a breath, every sentence a seismographic wonder of observation. Scuba-diving once, I watched minute sea-grass oscillate with the motion of the sea, and this is how I think of the narrator of this magnificent novel-she sways with every movement of the world, both interior and exterior, registering it all, and always you wonder, with an aching heart, what will become of her? -- Jonathan Ames, author of WAKE UP, SIR! Loyd is acute and unsparing in her portrayal of Celia's grief over the loss of her husband. Though the chapters are short and the radius of action is small, "Affairs" still feels substantial. Celia moves almost ghostlike through her own apartment, her building, the streets of Brooklyn and the reaches of her mind, with the reader being just as absorbed in her thoughts as she is. MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE (USA) Poetic levity keeps this charged narrative from becoming overwrought, and as it cuts between Celia's past and present, it gestures to an optimistic future, allowing her to move forward without demanding that she move on. -- Hepzibah Anderson THE OBSERVER A haunting, memorable read -- Helena Gumley-Mason THE LADY In showing us Celia and her neighbours, Amy has written an exploration of intertwining psyches, personalities and lives that wander through our imaginations to provide an honest insight, as thought-provoking as it is lyrical. Ultimately it's about Hope and, indeed, hope. THE BOOK BAG A riveting, raw debut... Loyd brilliantly keeps us holding our breath as Celia's barriers disintegrate, her rules fall away, and the shield she holds so tightly over her heart slowly lowers... Stunningly rendered, acutely emotional REDBOOK (USA) For first-time novelist Amy Grace Loyd, an apartment building is not simply housing. It is also a metaphor for the paradoxical isolation and proximity we feel among others... With forceful, sensual prose (the author is captivated by the scents of people and places), Loyd allows Celia to discover that 'life had as many gains as losses as long as we were willing to tally them -- Amy Fine Collins O THE OPRAH MAGAZINE (USA) In this 50-shades-of-something novel, an apartment building's tenants are thrown for a loop when a new resident moves in MARIE CLAIRE (USA) [Loyd's] writing is rich and elegant, with elements of allusion and allegory and beguiling characters to draw readers in. Dark and sensual, with just a touch of suspense, this first novel offers a heartwrenchingly honest story about grief while still allowing for a glimmer of hope BOOKLIST (USA)